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Delta Air Lines is adding new destinations, using nicer planes and upgrading its terminal in an effort to win a bigger share of the Los Angeles market.

The carrier will add eight destinations and a total of 17 additional flights at Los Angeles International (LAX) between now and July. Delta also has ended the use of 50-seat regional jets on all flights at LAX, where it trails American, United and Southwest in market share.

"Obviously, it's very competitive," Bob Cortelyou Delta's senior vice president, Network Planning, tells Today in the Sky about the landscape at LAX. "That's why we're upgrading our product and doing quite a bit of service enhancements there. In order for us to enhance that and be competitive, we have to be focused on the product."

Additionally, Delta will add service to three new destinations from LAX on a seasonal basis. They are Anchorage (three weekly flights from June 21 through Aug. 31); Boston (one daily flight from June 10-Aug. 12) and Bozeman, Mont. (Saturday-only service June 22-Aug. 24).

And on six of its existing LAX routes, Delta will add flights and upgrade some routes to bigger planes. The routes getting at least one of those two upgrades are New Orleans, Oakland, Phoenix, Sacramento, Puerto Vallarta, Mexico and Guadalajara, Mexico.

Cortelyou says the move to bigger planes will allow Delta to offer Wi-Fi as well as provide first-class and premium-economy seating on all of its flights from LAX.

"We no longer have any 50-seat product in Los Angeles," Cortelyou adds, referring to small regional jets that have become increasingly unpopular with fliers over the past decade.

Once all of the new flights and bigger aircraft come online by July, Delta says its seat capacity at LAX will have grown 12% as compared with the same month in 2012. Delta will fly 118 peak-day flights to 40 destinations nonstop.

"This is just a natural outgrowth of what we've been doing over the past few years in bringing good quality service to Los Angeles. "We're kind of focused on the whole product, the whole network there for Los Angeles (customers)."

When asked if Delta's LAX growth would lead the carrier to give hub status to Los Angeles, Cortelyou responded:

"Obviously we connect a lot of traffic through Los Angeles. Whether you're going to the South Pacific or Asia or even coming through Los Angeles to Mexico or other points. It's great connecting hub for us and it's obviously a very strong local market also. So, it kind of works as both for us. "

Delta's LAX growth allows it to better leverage partnerships with Alaska Airlines — which operates a "focus city" there — as well as with SkyTeam partners such as Korean Air, China Eastern and Aeromexico.

"Obviously that just enhances our overall presence there in Los Angeles," Cortelyou says. "We looked at the whole picture in Los Angeles at what Delta brings to the table and what our partners bring to the table."

As part of Delta's facility upgrades at LAX, Delta and Alaska Airlines now share adjacent terminal space at LAX, something that lets passengers connect more seamlessly between the partner carriers.

Going forward, Cortelyou adds that "we're very excited about the addition of Virgin Atlantic and bringing the Heathrow market to Delta beginning sometime later this year."